Manufacture of pelt hats



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JAMES MONACH, OF RAHYIVAY, NEV JERSEY.

MANUFACTURE OF FELT HATS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 23,934, dated May 10, 1859.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES MoNAoH, of Rahway, in the county of Middlesex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Corrugating or Ornamenting the Brims of Hats; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of references marked thereon.

The nature of my invention consists in corrugating or ornamenting the brims of soft hats usually called felt hats by means of radially grooved annular plates of iron or other suitable material without stretching the material of the brim.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to de scribe its construction and mode of operation.

I construct two flat metal rings of an elliptical form as shown at Figure 1, the inner diameters being respectively `about ten inches and nine and a half inches or somewhat larger than the body of the hat about three inches wide on the face and about half an inch thick. These plates are turned or planed up true so as to bed close to each other and are grooved with the radial cuts l, 2, 3, &c., Fig. 2, which is an enlarged view of a portion of one of the plates which cuts are smaller than the intermediate spaces a, c, cl, &c., and the grooves and spaces are so arranged in each pair of plates that when they are placed in opposition to each other as shown at Fig. 3, which is an enlarged view corresponding to Fig. 2, the spaces of the one plate will be opposite the grooves in the other plate. Thus in the lower plate A, the grooves l, 2, 3, 4, &c., are opposite the spaces a, b, c, d, &c., of the upper plate B. This is their proper position when in use and in which they are retained by means of guide pins and holes, as shown at C, and D, Figs. l, and 4, which are placed in projecting lugs so as not to interfere with the design upon the face of the plates. In addition to these groovedV plates I require the use of other pieces, to wit, the riser F, Fig. 4, which is of cast iron and about the height of the common low crown hats, but corresponding in other respects to the shape of the plates and like them faced' up true and to a parallel height so that the plates may bear properly upon them or upon one another; these risers are also furnished with two handles I-I, and K, Fig. 4,

for the purpose of moving or placing them as required and when hats of a higher style are to be pressed I use the accommodation piece Gr, Fig. 4, which is similar in all respects to the riser F, only that it is merely high enough vwhen placed on the riser F to make both of them as one riser answer for the highest style of hat. In Fig. 5, the riser and plates are given in section to show the operation of pressing the hat L. The riser F, is first placed on the lower platen or bed of a hydraulic or other press then the lower plate upon that with the grooved face upward, upon this the hat is placed as shown at L, with the brim reposing upon the plate, the top plate is then put on with the grooved face downward, and the pressing power applied. It must be observed that the plates should be applied at a heat oflabout three hundred degrees more or less in order to make the effect permanent and be allowedvto remain under pressure till they have cooled. In practice a number of these sets of plates and rises are placed in one press as shown at Fig. 6, so as to expedite the operation.

In the method of corrugating the brims of hats as heretofore practiced the plates were made to penetrate or lit into each other by which means the material of the hat was so acted upon by the increase of the corrugated surface over or beyond that of the original plain surface that they were torn or damaged in the operation as felt is a substance that will not stretch without injury, but by my improvement the corrugation is effected without any stretching of or injury to the material of the hat brim as the indentations on the opposite sides are produced by the compression or condensation of the substance of the brim.

Ido not claim corrugating hat brims, nor the use of corrugated plates to produce corrugation but What I do claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is- The corrugation of the brims of felt or soft hats by the employment of dies on both sides of the brim, constructed as described whereby the corrugation is attained without stretching the brim, both the surfaces being finished at one operation.

JAMES MONACH.

Witnesses:

LEONARD DUNN, E. Y. ROGERS. 

